The Sword Saint's study still echoed with the aftershocks of revelation when combat's siren song beckoned. Li Lingfeng's bare feet left scorched imprints on qi-hardened jade as he ascended through fractured cloud layers, each step birthing lotus blooms of condensed sword intent.
"Come, Storm-Caller." His voice resonated with tectonic patience. "Let Shu's peaks bear witness to rising legends."
Zhao Rui's ascent scattered nesting phoenixes. The Nine Heavens Thunder Lance hummed in his grip, its dragon-scale patterns writhing like caged storms. Between heartbeats, the sky inverted - Li's aura uncoiling like ten thousand naked blades while Zhao's golden armor hissed against invisible edges.
First Movement: Dragon's Gambit
Zhao struck first. The lance's arc birthed a screaming purple leviathan - Violet Lightning Serpent technique honed through countless battles. Li's counterstroke unfolded with glacial precision, a finger-sword carving reality itself.
Lightning met starlight.
The concussion wave stripped centuries-old moss from Shu's floating peaks. Distant disciples tumbled from their swords like autumn leaves.
"Three percent," Li murmured as the serpent's corpse rained embers. "Your borrowed dragon essence weakens here."
Zhao tasted blood and ozone. "Ninety-seven remains."
Interlude: Fractured Reflections
Dun Che's claws shredded an obsidian monolith. "Why isn't he using the tome?!"
Xuanling's beard crackled with static discharge. "The Ten Thousand Laws answers only to true desperation. Your brother walks the—"
A scream of sundered dimensions drowned his warning. Li's second finger-sword pierced Zhao's golden mantle, its passage leaving fractal burns across reality.
Crescendo: Phoenix Rebirth
Bloodied but unbowed, Zhao's counterflow birthed chaos. The lance became a living storm - thrusts warping space, parries birthing micro-singularities. Li's smile widened with each near-miss, his defensive arrays crumbling like ancient parchment.
"Five percent!" The Sword Saint's roar shook celestial foundations. "Show me your truth, Storm-Caller!"
The Tome answered in screaming gold.
Climax: Celestial Judgement
Reality stilled as Zhao's second元神 materialized - a twenty-meter colossus wreathed in stolen dragonfire. Twin strikes fell: lance from front, avatar from behind.
Li's laughter crystallized the very air.
Four finger-swords bloomed - north, south, zenith, nadir. The golden avatar disintegrated mid-pounce, its death scream etching fresh nightmares into Shu's geomantic memory. The lance shattered against Li's palm, its remnants raining molten steel.
Denouement: Honor in Ashes
Zhao's descent painted crimson trails across jade tiles. Li's final blade halted at his throat, its edge singing the song of event horizons.
"Ten strikes." The Sword Saint's whisper carried weight enough to crush mountains. "Hua Yang fell at five."
Blood dripped onto the Tome's open pages, its sigils writhing into new configurations - a phoenix rising from shattered swords.
Epilogue: Whispering Peaks
Dusk found Zhao Rui nursing fractal wounds at Shu's medicinal springs. Li Lingfeng's voice drifted through mist-shrouded pines:
"You'll surpass me within two centuries."
"Half that," Zhao countered, watching his reflection in dragon-blood waters. The Tome's newest illustration showed lightning-scarred peaks crumbling beneath a golden tsunami.
Far above, Xuanling and Li conversed amidst celestial wreckage:
"Was the lesson worth the cost?"
The Sword Saint studied his fading wounds. "Better my hall than Dragon-Tiger Mountain's abattoir. Let Zhang Songli test Heaven's new hammer."
As midnight draped Shu in star-flecked silence, Zhao's fingers traced the Tome's latest prophecy - twin dragons devouring a tiger-shaped mountain. Somewhere in Shanghai's neon glow, Shi Compound's defenses flared crimson - unwitting beacon for approaching storms.